Retirement marked by prestigious award

Associate Professor Trevor Appleton, who recently retired from the School and a part-time position in the Faculty of Science, has been made a Distiguished Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

The award is made by the RACI to recognise outstanding contributions to chemistry and the RACI, and is given by the Board on, or very close, to the recepient's retirement from their principal professional role. It recognises highly distinguished contributions to the profession in academia, government or industry and the RACI. Only a small number of such awards are made in a given year, restricted to Fellows of the Institute.

Trevor's long-standing service to the RACI in many roles was commended, including his service as RACI Qld Branch President and his involvement in the Chemical Education Group interfacing with secondary school teachers.

In 35 years of service to UQ Trevor taught thousands of students and maintained an active research group in Platinum Chemistry, with particular relevance to anti-cancer platinum compounds. He is internationally recognised, with one of his publications cited around 1,200 times. Many of Trevor's PhD graduates have gone on to academic positions in Australia and overseas.

Trevor also served as a Faculty student advisor, helping students in need of guidance, and has long been involved as an organiser of one of the SCMB's significant prospective student activities, the annual RACI Chemistry Titration competition for high school students. He was an active delegate for the National Tertiary Education Union, striving to improve conditions for UQ staff.

Trevor has accepted an honorary appointment with the School and expects to continue to assist with the titration competition, amongst other things.